1973 Directed by Peter Yates
An aging hood is about to go back to prison. Hoping to escape his fate, he supplies information on stolen guns to the feds, while simultaneously supplying arms to his bank robbing chums.
Robert Mitchum Peter Boyle Richard Jordan Steven Keats Alex Rocco Joe Santos Mitchell Ryan Peter MacLean Marvin Lichterman Carolyn Pickman Matthew Cowles Helena Carroll Jack Kehoe Margaret Ladd Jane House Alan Koss Dennis McMullen Judith Ogden Cabot Robert Anthony Gustave Johnson Sheldon Feldner Ted Maynard Kevin O'Morrison James Tolkan Jan Egleson Michael McCleery
Les amis d'Eddie Coyle, Adieu mon salaud, Os Amigos de Eddie Coyle, Der V-Mann
Crime, drugs and gangsters Thrillers and murder mysteries High speed and special ops robbery, criminal, crime, heist or cops gangster, crime, criminal, violence or gritty drugs, violence, crime, gritty or cops prison, jail, criminal, convicts or violence film noir, femme fatale, 1940s, thriller or intriguing Show All…
a miserable, unglamorous street-level depiction of the dog-eat-dog economy of the boston underworld. respect that yates doesn't play any of this for melodrama despite how easy it would've been to do so, instead committing to a style that's equal parts mundane and melancholy because these are characters who (despite the friendly faces and desperate negotiations) feel it in their bones that there's no future. nothing to do but just resign yourself to waiting around in shitty bars and anonymous parking lots until it's your turn to be traded in for a few bucks and a favor. mitchum gives one of the saddest, weariest performances i've seen played at a register this casual (teared up watching him cheer on bobby orr) in between some of the most tense and quiet logistical bank robbery sequences ever put on film.
All you need to make a perfect crime flick is a couple of handguns and a handful of balding men who look like alcoholic longshoremen
Robert Mitchum may be my all-time favorite actor, and I can think of no more ideal late-career role for him than as an aging, defeated crook who tries to sell out his "friends" to avoid another few years up the river, but winds up playing a rigged game. What struck me most this time around is how masterfully Peter Yates stages the handful of suspense setpieces in this film-- very Rififi-esque in the way they develop quietly and matter-of-factly, with minimal sound cues. Seems to be that Yates' lack of big '70s auteur status is the only thing keeping this movie from being considered among the decade's best.
Robert Mitchum as Eddie Coyle; a low-level Boston gangsta facing an upcoming prison sentence he doesn't want to even think about serving. He's old. He's tired. He doesn't want to put another burden on his wife and kids. He's a desperate man, in the most desperate situation of his life. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. But, that light is for rats, and not ones found in sewers. A government agent with his own personal agenda offers Eddie a deal: inform, and maybe he will get his sentence reduced. What does a man do when the life he's lived and the friends he's made is the reason he's at this crossing point? Is honor or family more…
One thing I love about this site is that it has experts on it. I don't mean bonafide experts of some official level, but folks who have a favorite genre or style of film. I love experts because I know I can find an interesting take on a genre from them; they know the tropes and the classics and the deep cuts. The deep cuts are the best part, the hidden gems, the side Bs that are much better than the hit singles. They do the digging for you and guide you to the sweet stuff. If I want a horror movie, especially a great slasher, I know Hollie and Richard have me covered. For giallo and krimi--and for a…
“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” is the anti-buddy cop movie. It’s the opposite of a heist team up. It’s a late in life portrait of relationships maintained through pragmatism alone.
What’s seen in “Coyle” is not a social contract that could be called ruthless, or even malevolent. It is as natural to the environment of the film as the brutalist buildings rising out of the concrete in its greyscale mosaic of Boston.
“Coyle” stands in direct contrast to “The Hot Rock;” a caper flick with a crew of (generally) amicable oddballs also directed by Peter Yates, just one year prior. “Coyle,” instead, features a cast of loners; made so by occupation, character, or just bum fate.
The cast - led…
Peter Yates's THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE is a masterpiece! A crime procedural with an emphasis more on characters & dialogue than creating action spectacles. Top-notch photography & a colorful cast of characters, led by an extraordinary performance from Robert Mitchum.
One of the greatest crime movies of all-time.
"Can you imagine being a kid like that? What is he, 24 or something? Greatest hockey player in the world. Number four, Bobby Orr. Jeez, what a future he’s got, huh?"
Every meeting in The Friends of Eddie Coyle is in a public setting. Sometimes they’re in a bar, sometimes they’re in a supermarket parking lot, and sometimes they’re in a park on the outskirts of town. Wherever these meetings take place, the behavioral protocol is standard. Trust no one. Size them up with a glance. Make it clear that you don’t give a sh*t about what the other person is offering. Take it or leave it, but be quick about it. Everyone’s suspect. If you think for a second that loyalty, ethics, and logic are part of the equation, it’s the penitentiary or a coffin for you.
In Michael Mann’s film Heat, Robert De Niro famously says, “Don’t let yourself get attached…
Peter Yates's masterpiece captures the melancholy of crime world like no other.A nihilistic world full of betrayals where no one can be a friend and there's no path for escape or salvation.
Despite the film's cynical tone hinting how the lead character's gonna end up,you still root for him and this is where the excellent casting choice of the legendary Robert Mitchum comes into play.This is a film where you can't spot a single bad performance,everyone gets into the skin of their respective character.
I also loved the clever use of music in some scenes.For, eg:towards the end,they use light-hearted music while something horrible happens.Tarantino,a fan of this film also did the same in that iconic Ear cutting scene from Reservoir dogs,one can draw many other parallels from his movies to know how much it has influenced his filmmaking career.
This is easily one of the best crime films ever and to no surprise,it belongs to the 70s.
CRITERION CHALLENGE 2021: 7. Wes Anderson's Top 10
Progress: 13/52
"I should have known better than to trust a cop; my own goddamn mother could have told me that."
At first glance, RADA-trained English former stage actor Peter Yates might seem like an unlikely director for a businesslike Boston crime saga, but his dingy The Friends of Eddie Coyle really puts the 'zero' in zero-sum game. Scripted by producer Paul Monash from a 1970 novel by one-time Assistant U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts George V. Higgins, the film stars a perfectly restrained Robert Mitchum as the titular Coyle—a low-level gunrunner scrambling to simultaneously supply small arms to a local crew of bank robbers and feed a shady narc (Richard Jordan) enough…
